rockm

Nice trunks. I would remove all the branching on them in the next couple of years and start from scratch however. The branches you have now, especially the ones at the tops of the trunks will be out of scale with newer lower branches. They also mostly all in awkward positions.

Elms are very apically dominant. .They will thicken old top branches quickly. Those need to be pruned hard back, and I mean hard back, every few years to keep them from dominating the lower branches.

This is down the road however. I would refrain from pruning anything on these this soon after collection. You are slowing their recovery by removing new growth and setting yourself up for possible winter dieback of the twigs and growth that are on the tree already.

The cedar elms that Iv'e collected over the years are incredibly hardy plants and can take alot of hard pruning, top and bottom. However, it has to be done at the correct time--early to mid spring and then only after a year or two recovery time. If you prune new growth the first growing season after collection, I've found that cedar elm can drop newly forming branching the following spring. Unfettered growth helps new potential branches establish pathways to roots. Constant pinching of new growth can slow that process. While that's not really bad for established bonsai (which have already established those pathways)newly collected trees are starting thisprocess from scratch. They need time and unrestrained growth to do so.

I'd feed heavily, as the trees are growing, and leave the new growth alone for now.